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Trying to keep the Sabbath and Ten Commandments is seen by many as the only way to live a God pleasing life. Though it has been established that The “Law and the Prophets” (Sabbath included) finished at John the Baptist. Luke 16:16.

I Steve (steve4arm@gmail.com) an evangelist from New Zealand, serving in Africa. More than 10 years now we have been doing ministry to Seventh Day Adventists and other Sabbath people about the way of “Jesus alone,” known as the New Covenant…

After those 10 plus years and thousands of interviews and encounters with Sabbath people, plainly, those who have brought Old Covenant law keeping into the New Covenant “walking by the Spirit” have disqualified themselves from the “Higher Life,” and the walking in the Spirit before God.

This “higher life” includes: liberty from sin, and living a Holy and righteous life at every moment, a walking by the Spirit (not being in the flesh), a being alive to God, all which enhances God fellowship. Please we know scripture says remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Yet the New Covenant provides a far greater grace so each and every day and moment even can be lived Holy. Not just a Sabbath or two.

Being able to walk in the Spirit (Galatians 5:17) the heart New Covenant working,is only provided through the faith in Christ alone. Any adding to faith alone, cuts man off from the source of this “higher Life.” See Galatians 5:4.

Having heard many Sabbath people saying, “they love Jesus Christ so they follow in his footsteps and keep the Sabbath.” Plus, have heard that Sabbath people are empowered by Christ to keep the Ten Commandments….. Lets reply to such ideas with Christ’s words. Jesus said in John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
So to love Christ we keep his words. Such as being Born Again/anew, and abiding in Him so we are fruitful. Further man being born anew, we receive complete righteousness, and are made right with God instantly. So the Ten Commandments has no use in a Christians life. 1 Timothy 1:9 CJB We are aware that Torah is not for a person who is righteous…

Sabbath people, further it is a trap for you to look to the ten Commandments, if you have been Born Again through Jesus alone. Galatians 5:2 NKJV Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

Please, Please God’s people are supposed to be Holy. Take a little look at Deuteronomy 28:9. Yet engaging Seventh Day people and other Sabbath observers, quickly, there is the testifying to being a sinner and the committing of sin daily. Through speech and even standing on an ant while walking, they say. Yet “Just Jesus alone” living, we like the adulterous woman of John 8:11 can go and sin no more.

This is the higher life of the New Covenant, a Holy living.
Please don’t be led a stray, in the end times, those remaining faithful to God (the remnant) are not Sabbath Observers, but rather Holy People unto God.
Ten years of Ministry to Sabbath folks, ten years of hearing at times a passionate people speak about the Ten Commandments Rarely though do we hear sabbath folks speak of living in the Spirit, which is the heart of the whole New Testament. Romans 8:13.

For the Sabbath observer, it is like Sabbath keeping is esteemed so highly, nothing else matters. It is like Sabbath keeping has surpassed/substituted the following: a Holy living, a living and walking by the Spirit, an abiding in Christ, a praying without ceasing yet in the spirit (which speaking tongues makes easy), a being a new Creation even. Paul of the New Testament clarifies. Galatians 6:15 NKJV For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.

This new creation life a Higher life is God’s work, its a free gift. Not mans doing or keeping or trying, rather all is received by faith alone, by being Born of God.

Then its good to live it out daily by walking in the Spirit.
Sabbath person….We love you, yet there is more to life, a higher life.
Steve…

Which is the true religion? There is a very simple answer to this question.
Consider the desire of God towards man which is for fellowship/relationship with us all.
That which prevents fellowship is the sin of man.
Isa. 59v2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear. NASB.

Then too living by the flesh or the corrupt nature is not God pleasing.
Romans 8v8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. NASB.
Jesus further clarified the kind of relationship needed for fellowship with God. In John 8v29 And He who sent Me is with Me. The Father has not left Me alone, for I always do those things that please Him.” NKJV

Carrying forward the thought that God desires fellowship with us. Sin and the corrupt nature prevents such. Then the true religion is where God has provided deliverance from sin and the flesh.
Matt. 26 v28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. NKJV
Acts 10 v43 To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.” NKJV
Romans 5 v19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. NKJV.

The true religion then is centred on Jesus Christ who has dealt with mans sin.
The true religion is also that which provides the ability to overcome the flesh. Not just on some limited level but sin and corruption overcoming 24/7.
Romans 8 v 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
The Spirit of Christ/The Holy Spirit is available 24/7 because we have received Christ in being Born of God/Again.

Further. 1 John 3 v9 Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. NKJV

Man too has a part to play, that is we need to stay/abide in Christ to stay sin free. See 1 John 3 v6 Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. NKJV

We are all born in sin and corruption through Adam and Eve. Yet through being Born Again, God delivers us from sin, and we are empowered to live God pleasing lives 24/7. Being Born Again happens when we receive Jesus Christ who then dwells with our spirit. Being Born Again also makes us alive to God. Being made alive to God makes constant fellowship with God a breeze/easy and fun even.
So we can know Him and enjoy Him even while on Earth.
Romans 8 v10 If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness. NASB.

Question.
Does your religion deal with the sin and flesh issues?

Some observations.
As an evangelist, I have yet to meet a Hindu or Bhuddhist or Muslim or Jehovah Witness or a Mormon or a Sabbath Keeper who really was walking in right relationship with God, or who was sin free.

The true religion is that which is of God, that which deals with sin and flesh.
Stevo..

We cant be a Child of God, apart from Jesus Christ. That is Jesus being with your spirit.
As Paul said, its Christ in us the hope of Glory.
Indeed without Jesus Christ living in man, we have no power over sin, no ability to fellowship with or worship God. As its only upon receiving Jesus Christ that we are made alive to God.
Romans 8;10 says if Christ is in you the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit (yours) is alive through righteousness.
We cant be a christian apart from Jesus Christ though some try. Ask a Muslim, or a Jehovah Witness, or a Mormon where is Jesus Christ dwelling. Most say heaven……
Steve…
Whatsapp +23323579 0004
Email steve4arm@gmail.com

The Christian or Child of God and their relationship to the Law. What should that relationship look like?
Here in Ghana we have ministered to by now 1000’s of SDA (Seventh Day Adventist) members and a combination of those exposed to SDA doctrine. Including other members from different congregations trying to keep the law.

Yet 99% of such encounters with the so called Sabbath Keepers, brings about the following realisation. That it’s only men/women relating to God purely through faith alone who can (Can word here chosen very carefully) please God.
Bible is plain and clear in showing that we please God and become His kids only through faith in Christ, not through being alive to the law or having any relationship to the Ten Commandments even.

This is bible speaking here.
Galatians 5 verse 4 Gods’ Word version.
4 Those of you who try to earn God’s approval by obeying his laws have been cut off from Christ. You have fallen out of God’s favor.

We cannot be in Christ, receiving the benefits through his work on the cross, and at the same time having a relationship to the law, including the Ten Commandments.
That is why so many, the great majority really, of the SDA folks we have ministered (shared Christ with, listened to them too) lack that which Christ has made freely available to mankind.

Examples would be: Any assurance of Eternal Life. A lack in knowing and understanding God. Being aware of His presence. No indwelling Christ, nor the Holy Spirit. Then as a result there is no anointing to understand the scriptures. List also includes no receiving the gifts of the Spirit, like The Speaking in Tongues or Discernment of Spirits….

Please we here love the Sabbath people, but not the doctrine. We also minister to Muslims and Jehovah Witness, and Mormons etc. So we are not picking on the SDA, rather highlighting the lack in the SDA doctrine so folks can be saved…

Pleasing God and living with Him on Earth and for all eternity is only realised/possible through the New Covenant, that is faith alone in Christ and trusting his finished work on the cross.

Romans 7 makes it plain as well in how we need view and relate to the Ten Commandments.
Verse 4 AMP…
Therefore, my fellow believers, you too died to the Law through the [crucified] body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God.
Another version, yet same scripture. KJV…

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

Wow such intimacy with God/Christ likened to being married to Him. Yet only possible through faith.

See dead to the law. Not only do we not need the law after John the Baptist..
Luke 16:16 16 “The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it.
Yet, also in Christ we are made dead to the Ten Commandments, so we can be fruitful/effective/pleasing for God.

Dead to the Law then, but alive to God in Christ.
Dead to the Ten Commandments, yet living in the Spirit and by faith, is how we please God.
Being dead to the Law, trusting only in Christ, is how to receive Christ’s righteousness.
Being dead to the Law, yet abiding in Christ the key to a productive life for God.
Being dead to the Law, yet walking in His righteousness (freely given), is how we are anointed to know truth, and hence kept from error.

See, some Seventh Day Adventists will even say eating certain foods can take a soul to hell. Have heard some say the greatest gift God has given man was the Sabbath.

Muslims often tell me that after they die; that they have a hope tbat Allah will forgive them for their sins.
Yet Jesus Christ the sinless one put to death the idea of obtaining a forgiveness after death.
John 8 vs 24 says….

24 I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.

Jesus Christ who came from above, does not want man to die as sinners. For sinners or unclean people cannot enter Heaven..

Religion and truth that proceeds from God says 2 Corinthians 5 v18 And it is all from God, who through the Messiah has reconciled us to himself and has given us the work of that reconciliation,

To die a sinner, is to perish. To believe and to receive Christ is to be reconciled to God in this life and before death.

After all how could we be given the work and message of making man right with God, if first the messenger was not put right?

No one can please God by being in the flesh. The flesh is your natural self, natural strength and abilities, self righteousness even. Romans 8: 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. KJV

Satan deceives folks into thinking that being a religious person is somehow the requirement for pleasing God. For example Jehovah Witness appear very religious as they go door to door preaching Watchtower doctrine. Latter Day Saints and Muslims all have an appearance of being religious. In fact the world is full of religious folks. Yet the test as to whether you can please God is this.
Romans 8: 9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Then to be in the Spirit and to please God is only possible if Christ and the Spirit dwells in you.

Have you received Christ then you have access to this righteous. Have you received Christ then you can walk and live in the spirit. Have you received Christ then you are no longer a sinner.

It’s interesting to note that the Jehovah Witness own bible the NEW WORLD TRANSLATION has removed almost all scriptures that teach of Christ living in man.

Are you called to Africa. Have you a desire to serve in Ghana. Are you a skilled mason and/or carpenter? Escape the Northern winter.
A zeal for the lost? Or a zeal for practical works for the Kingdom?

African Revival Mission is looking for masons and carpenters (electricians and plumbers too) to serve here in Ghana.
We have a mission base to complete. Having blocks to lay, plumbing to be done. Electrical work, and window frames. A concrete roof to cast. Outdoor facilities to develop. …
Time here in Ghana would/could also include ministry and evangelism. We can introduce you to a lifestyle of being a witness for Christ. Cross cultural witness.
Opportunities to serve range. We are quite flexible.
Minimum length of stay really should be 2 weeks. Though a month or two would be better giving you a chance to sample and get to know Africa….

We have been living and serving in Africa for a number of years now. First with Mercy Ships and Youth With A Mission. Last ten years with our own ministry….

How to know God? How to have fellowship with God? How to enjoy a Holy God?

There is one way to know God. New Covenant way. Old has past, been fulfilled, been made obsolete. Hebrews 8:13.
New Covenant, now man is the temple for God. Yet for God to dwell within man we need to be reconciled to Him first. That is the work of the Christ within.

We can know God and fellowship (enjoying Him, like he is your best friend) because he is not far from anyone of us. In fact he dwells in all of His Children. That is those who have been made alive to Him through the new birth. Romans 8:10 NASB If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

We cant know God, fellowship with Him 24/7 as a sinner. You cant spend eternity with a Holy God as a sinner. We are all born with sin/evil dwelling within.
Romans 7:20-21 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. KJV.

We all live with that sin within 24/7, hence the need of the New birth, the indwelling Christ. So that righteousness and overcoming power is available 24/7 to deal with the sin issue.
To know God we need to be made alive to Him, yet also dead to sin. Romans 6:11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. NKJV….

To know God and enjoy Him is now easy, very possible even. Through the New Covenant mans body is made the dwelling place of the Most Holy God. Through the New Covenant we receive all that is needed so we can stand/live/walk in the spirit, and fellowship with God who is a Spirit..

Alive to God so we can know Him, and enjoy Him. Its all been done through Christ on the cross.